minchton

plants are basically a waste of money. I had them in three different tanks and the yellows destroyed the plants in two tanks in short time. I would recommend leaving just the yellows in the tank then if you wish to catch a female in breeding mode can make the job easier.

Andrew I hope Caryl is confused on her years might be something to do with Fiji but last time I looked Taranaki is hosting conference 2005. Better be right as we have just paid a deposit on accommodation. Mitch

Hi NZMAS members Debby and I would like to thank you all very much for making us so welcome at yesterdays meeting. We came up specially to look and learn and we did a lot of both. It was also very nice to be able to put faces to names. Special thanks to Steve for his wisdom, Adam for great cooking, to those other members that we got the chance to talk to, and last but not least a very special thanks to Nick for all his advice and practical assistance. It may have been a long trip but we dont regret one moment of it. We arrived home very tired and very broke but full of enthusiasm for marines. Once again thank you all for a lovely day. Nick for those not on the internet you may like to put this in your next magazine. Debby & Mitch

Can anybody give me information on the "red Sea Berlin" skimmers please. the one i am looking at supposedly does 25-250 Us gallons. any advice appreciated thanks Mitch

Caryl All posties are efficient. Do almost as good a job as you do with the magazine. thanks for another informative booklet Mitch

I dont really see any fish listed that would be likely to eat your flying foxes. Have you a good lid on your tank as they are amazing jumpers which was the way I lost most of mine (generally when doing waterchanges and having the top glass off) Mitch

one of our members has had a hatching of apple snails on the grass beside her pond. Can anybody advise what is the next step she should take. the young have been in the grass for two days. is it safe just to leave them, put them in a tank or what. Please help Mitch

Recently I have seen a couple of fish rooms using a common filtration water supply. I am considering doing the same thing in my fishroom but every time I mention it I am reminded of the risk of a disease in one tank going through the lot. Any suggestions or recommendations would be appreciated thanks Mitch

this I hope will be my last word on this topic. Some people seem to think that it is my intention to knock the whole idea of an overseas conference. Not by any means. I personally dont agree with the idea but at the last conference the decision was made and as a supporter of the federation I will accept the majority decision. When I started this topic my criticism was about the lack of information available and what was the federation doing about it. This topic now seems to have degenerated into a slanging match with the fors and against. Rather unseemly and to no benefit to anybody. There is also now a lot of rubbish information being posted. Please lets stay with the facts. As I understand it this is the correct sequence of history in this matter. 1. conference 2002 voted to hold the 2005 conference off shore. At the time the 2004 conference was to be held in Christchurch. 2. The minutes of the executive in November 2002 stated "unable to contact John Eastwood. Canterbury has not yet formally resigned as host for the 2004 conference. 3. Conference 2003 voted to hold the 2004 conference offshore. 4. At the same conference John Eastwood said he had started and all interested should start saving about $1000 for the trip. No mention of extras like $100 per day spending etc. 5. the conference could be held at Gold Coast or Fiji. Hawkes Bay countered by saying they had good support from their club for Vanuatu. 6. A statement was made that all members would be contacted by the end of July giving them the option of where to go. 7. We were finally given some information through Aquarium World in November 2003. These are the facts as I know them so neither myself nor any other member of the federation needs to be fed facetious statements like you have had 2years to save, you should have known that the costs would have been more etc,etc. As with any best intentions things do not always work out as planned and I appreciate that this has happened in this case. All I ever wanted was to be kept informed by the executive at the earliest possible time and confirmation that they were keeping a close watch on the situation and not allowing matters to drift as unfortunately happened the previous year. Regardless of if I am at the conference or not I still support the federation and wish everbody who attends a good CONFERENCE.

Warren said "discontent by a few who have never attended conference or just once or twice. Thank you for making our club aware that we should not send a delegate to conference unless they have attended a large number of them and that they are not to think for or put across the feelings of the club that elected them. If you dont want this to get personal look at what is being said regarding the displeasure of the way we the members are being treated re lack of information and dont come back with facetious remarks about how easy it is for every person to save the money. Have you ever had to live on a benefit.

Caryl Where does $3000 come from. To quote from your own magazine page 31. Accommodation Quote $1678 or $1560 per person spending Quote $100 per day =$700 total $2260 In addition we are looking at at least 1 night in Auckland cost $200 Air fares AK return $299 This I think comes close to $3000 when it is considered that these quotes do not include taxes. In my case there is two fares etc $6000 Training replacement staff as I cannot just close my business when it suits me. two staff @ 4 weeks training + 1 week relief $2500. Conference in NZ 3 days no relief staff and a lot less than $3000per person for a glorified booze up.

Bruce Thank you and the HB club for supporting our stand. I was beginning to think that no-one cared about protocol as long as they had a holiday. Every time any question is asked about this supposed conference we get accused of stirring etc etc. Nothing has changed as far as I can see. Everytime a question is asked the answer will be given next week! next month! or maybe after the conference has been completed. In spite of the assurance given in June 2003 that this conference would not cost much more than one in NZ the figures seem to be growing and growing to the extent that the approx $1000 per person now appears to be around the $3000 mark for our members. This rubbish about waiting for fare information is also a load of rubbish as I can and have walked past a number of travel agents and picked up current brochures with prices for 5jan to 30 jun. Please somebody on the exec get your act together and get some progress made. Sorry I now see that as members we are not allowed to make suggestions on this site, which could be construed as a criticism. In that case please ignore all I have said. It may offend somebody.

Caryl I dont want to start a slanging match on this forum BUT I quote from "fish Tales" November 2003 Under heading "general business", meeting held 15 October. "Letter from John Eastwood about possible locations for the next FNZAS Conference." Where is our letter from what appears to be the one person organising the trip Mitch

Not having received, nor knowing anybody who has received a personal letter re the venue etc for the 2004 conference the Taranaki Aquarium and Pond society Board would be interested to gather some information on any proposed gathering. Maybe because at the last Conference we as a Club were not in favour of an overseas venue it has been decided by the FNZAS that Taranaki is no longer recognised as a member club. Or maybe it is the usual situation that give the job to one person and that person will decide who will be personna non-gratia. When first muted we were told that we would be given a costing and have 12 months to save the fare. This is now less than six months away. We were also advised that we would each be written to individually and given a choice of venue. Where is our choice???? So PLEASE are we going to get any information in the near future or are we to be left in the dark until after the event M.A. Minchington President Taranaki Aquarium & Pond Society Affilliated member Club of FNZAS

I am considering using trickle filter method for turtle tanks. Can anybody tell me is this feasible? is it better than canister filters i.e less cleaning. Will it pick up all the unmentionables etc etc. Any assistance would be appreciated thanks Mitch

Hi Warren Other T.A.P.S positions Senior Vice president Tony Watt 43 Juliet Street Stratford Phone (06) 765-7956 Treasurer J Smillie 18A ashmore Drive New Plymouth Phone (06) 753-4129 Editor C Mercer 24 Mahoe street Inglewood Phone (06) 756-7758

New details for T.A.P.S following AGM President: M.A. Minchington 16 Koromiko street Inglewood Phone (06) 7567 521 E-mail [email protected] Secretary: D. G. McKenzie 16 Koromiko street Inglewood Phone (06) 7567 521 e-mail: use mine

Hi Warren Have tried everything else so will go this way. Amending your current list Add my email [email protected] Val Smith phone no (06) 7567 405 Regards Mitch

Hi Robin If you are able to come Taranaki way we can probably help with common kribs and albinos, bristlenose and peppered,bronze and albino corys. Hope this helps Mitch

Hi Napier Hastings members Debby and I will be in your area Sunday morning and would appreciate the chance to see some of your tanks please. Will be able to bring with me the following fish if anybody interested: Bristlenose pairs 4 inch Kribs ordinary & Albino (young) Guppys

Warren I whole heartedly agree with your comments. The point of this posting was to try and get something moving in the right direction. As a Club we have notified all Clubs ( at the address listed for them) of our correct details but as you can see by my posting nothing changes. As a member of a federated Club and having met most of the Federation committee I am fully aware of the distances required to hold a meeting and we DO appreciate the time and effort put in by these people. All I can say is thank you for the interest taken and hope both our postings will get things moving correctly. As you said at the end of your posting this is in no way directed at any particular person or Club but is just a general shakeup.

Apart from the fact that FNZAS cannot even manage to get a year book out, or maybe we shouldn't go down that road, are club magazines so uninteresting that people cannot even read the front cover, or a seperate notification placed in their magazine with updated information that we have to physically now specially write to every person in the hope of getting to the right one. Our complaint is not just with the Federation but with every other club that considers the information of sufficient importance to send out but not important enough to send to the correct address. Some of the addresses that are being used are years old and have been changed in various year books and other mediums. Surely trying to get something corrected is proactive not destructive.

To All Concerned Me Roy Jessett is NO LONGERa member of the executive of the Taranaki Aquarium & Pond society Inc. All further correspondence should be sent to the Secretary Mrs V. Smith 20 Karaka Street Inglewood or in the case of Club Bulletins to Miss C Mercer 24 Mahoe Street Inglewood. A number of our members are getting very frustrated with the lack of information being received from Federation or other clubs through the use of wrong addresses. If this continues in my personal opinion it is a waste of time being a member of the federation and I will be recommending to the executive that we consider withdrawing as a member club of Federation. M.A.Minchington Vice President

has anybody had the experience of having a pleco in a tank with a sand base and did it work please Mitch

Anybody Please help I have a 4foot tank with 4 angels and 8 Gourami's. a pair of angels have just spawned on a tank ornament and I need advice. This is their first time. Do I take the eggs out? leave things alone? panic? wait till the possible fry hatch and then remove them? or what do you experts suggest Please help Thanks Mitch